How Tom Coughlin Outcoached Dungy and Wade Phillips to the Super Bowl...in Week 17

We need to give Herm Edwards some credit for the Giants surprising run to the Super Bowl. No, not Herm himself, but the Herm Edwards approach. YOU PLAY TO WIN THE GAME.

Tom Coughlin did just that in Week 17, despite having his playoff seeding locked in. Tony Dungy and Wade Phillips, in the same situation and despite having a bye week too, rolled out half a team. Bill Belichick, of course, went all out in Week 17, though some may argue that they were caught off guard by having their opponent do the same. Coughlin and Belichick are in the Super Bowl, and Wade Phillips and Dungy are golfing.

That point has been made before, but now that they've actually knocked off the Packers too we can be all the more impressed by Coughlin's gumption. First, recall that the Giants were struggling heavily towards the end of the season, not in terms of wins and losses (4-3 in the games leading up to Week 17), but in terms of the way they were winning. In those seven games between their bye and New England, Manning threw 10 interceptions to only 6 touchdowns and fumbled 8 times, losing three. His passing rating over that stretch averaged around 63. His pass protection was partly to blame, as he was sacked 18 times in that stretch compared to only 8 in the first eight games.

Sure, they were 10-5 going into that New England game in Week 17, but they certainly didn't have any real reason to think anything had changed since Dallas and Green Bay beat them three times (Weeks 1, 10 for Dallas, Week 2 for Green Bay) by a combined score of 111-68. When Coughlin told them to go all-out against New England, he had plenty to lose, but his team did not.

To have gotten the performance he got from his guys, we know Coughlin gambled in advance and told his team they were playing the starters all game and trying to knock off the best team in the league. That means if the score got out of hand early, he would have had to choose between killing the team's psychology by pulling starters in the second half or killing the team's psychology by keeping them in. In effect, either way he was telling his team that he had confidence that they could play with the big boys. If an important player was injured, Coughlin very well could have lost his job. Had he just rolled over like Indy and Dallas in Week 17, his job was not in danger.

The gamble paid off, and 10-6 divisional round fodder turned into an NFC Champion with a suddenly dangerous quarterback.